What's New :: News :: School Employees Credit Union of Washington

What's New

Member First signature loan gives members a break

This month, we're introducing our Member First loan to give you and your family a boost during this challenging economy.

With just your signature (no collateral needed), you can borrow up to $10,000 for any purpose and take up to 60 months to repay. Best of all, you can qualify for rates as low as 4.25% APR* when you repay via direct deposit or payroll deduction.

Our members' exceptional history of paying back loans on time and managing their accounts responsibly make this loan possible. Apply today and give your family that well-deserved vacation you may have been putting off! Click here for details on rates.

*APR = Annual Percentage Rate. The 4.25% APR shown above for a highly qualified borrower assumes our .50% discount for repayment by direct deposit or payroll deduction. Add .50% for other payment methods for a non-discounted rate range of 4.75% - 9.50% APR. Your personal credit history will determine the rate for which you may qualify. Example: If you borrow $10,000 at 4.25% APR for 60 months, your monthly payment would be $185.30 for a principal and interest total of $11,117.73.

Tell Congress to leave your debit card alone!

Good intentions gone awry.

After so much economic turmoil, it makes sense that Americans would demand some changes in the rules governing big financial institutions. We support many aspects of the Financial Regulatory Reform Bill; however, a Senate amendment (Senate Bill 3217) makes no sense at all, once you understand the details.

The amendment has to do with debit cards and the fees that card issuers collect from merchants.

Here's how the debit card system works: Consumers use debit cards to make purchases. Merchants get the benefit of immediate payments, without the risk of losses due to fraud or non-sufficient funds. Those risks are assumed by card issuers which charge merchants a small "interchange" fee for each transaction.

The Senate amendment disrupts that system by requiring the Federal Reserve Board to set limits on interchange fees.

Since credit unions are not-for-profit cooperatives, anything that affects our ability to cover costs impacts each member. That could mean higher rates on loans, lower rates on savings, new fees for the services you currently enjoy for free, or the elimination of debit card programs.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that similar regulations in Australia increased retailers' profits by nearly $1 billion over 12 months, with "no evidence that the cost savings had been passed on to consumers.".

Senate leaders are currently negotiating this with the U.S. House of Representatives; however, it's not too late to turn this around. If enough Americans speak up, the amendment could be eliminated.

We all want assurances that Congress is taking the financial crisis seriously and making prudent decisions to strengthen our financial system. We hope you'll let your elected Representatives and Senate leaders know that this amendment on debit cards is not in the best interest of their constituents.

How to get involved

Let your elected representatives and Senate leaders know that the interchange amendment to the Financial Regulatory Reform Bill is bad for credit unions and consumers.

For more information on this topic,click here.
Call the toll-free Credit Union Action Line, which will connect you to the offices of the people who represent you. That number is (877) 223-5275.
Send your Senator and/or Representative an email: click here.

M3^TM Money Club and Elements of Money^TM

Just for kids and teens!

We've said "So long!" to our Savvy Savers and Choices financial-education programs for kids and teens. In their place are two new programs that better reflect the interests and communication styles of today's youth while giving you even more tools to help teach your children about money.

Former Savvy Savers members are now M3 Money Club members. They can take advantage of new interactive Web content, a quarterly newsletter, and more. Former Choices members now can explore Elements of Money, which includes multimedia options like blogs, podcasts, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

These new programs add even more value to our accounts designed especially for kids and teens, but they don't change the accounts themselves. Your child's account numbers, ATM cards, and checks - as well as dividend rates and the products we offer - remain exactly the same.

Visa Credit Card e-Statements

Cut the clutter of monthly paper statements by enrolling in our free, secure e-Statements for your Visa credit card.

As with e-Statements for your other credit union accounts, Visa e-Statements are available 24 hours a day from any Internet connection. You'll receive an e-mail from us each month letting you know when a new billing statement is available for view. Once you sign up*, we'll begin building a 24-month online statement archive for you - saving storage space and cutting your risk of falling victim to mail fraud and identity theft.

To sign up for Visa e-Statements, register your Visa credit card within Online Banking under "Visa Credit Card" tab. Then, click our Visa e-Statements sign-up banner, pop-up ad, or visit "Online Services" to complete a quick enrollment process, in which you'll verify your e-mail address and accept our Visa e-Statements Terms & Conditions.

Visa e-Statements are good for you, good for your credit union, and good the environment. The money we save on paper, printing, and postage costs, we pass along to members with lower loan rates and more free services. Sign up today!

*During the first two billing statement cycles after enrollment, you'll receive both paper billing statements and e-Statements. After that, you'll receive e-Statements only.

FinanceWorks

FinanceWorks puts money management at your fingertips!

FinanceWorks is a FREE new online tool to help you reach your financial goals. With FinanceWorks, you'll have the power to:

View accounts across more than 16,000 financial institutions - all from one site
See where you're spending your money and track a budget
Get out and stay out of debt
Live within your means.

FinanceWorks is easy to use and, because it will be housed within our secure Online Banking site, it keeps your private information safe.

Stay tuned!

Retirement Central - practical help for your retirement

We've added another FREE benefit to help members keep more of their hard-earned money. Your membership now includes access to Retirement Central, a comprehensive suite of free retirement planning and educational tools.

Whether you're decades from retirement or looking forward to it soon, Retirement Central has something for you. You can access it from this website by clicking "IRAs & Retirement Central" under the "Accounts & Services" tab.

These are just some of the features you'll find:

Life Stages. Planning to retire early? Getting married? Newly laid off? Retirement Central gives detailed advice for 11 life stages and circumstances that impact retirement. In just a few clicks, you can zero in on information that you'd swear was written just for you.

Frequently Asked Questions. Navigating options for your employer's retirement plans, Social Security, Medicare, and IRAs can leave you feeling like you're exploring a foreign land. Get detailed answers written in plain English to common questions like "What kinds of income qualify as 'earned income' for IRA purposes?"

Planning. Check out retirement calculators that let you run all sorts of what-if scenarios. Among the tools you'll find: early payout planners, beneficiary planners, IRA eligibility planners, rollover and conversion planners, and more.

Manage Your Account. We love this feature! Sometimes, it's hard to tell which form you need to make a change to your credit union IRA. When you choose "Service an Existing IRA," you'll answer a few questions that guide you to the right form. Then you simply fill it out online, print, and mail it to us.

Remember: Everything on this site is FREE and available to you as a credit union membership perk.

Skip-a-Payment may help you when money is tight

You may be able to defer your usual monthly loan payment without affecting your credit rating.

Our unique Skip-a-Payment program allows you to skip two payments in any 12-month period (as long as the skips are at least 90 days apart). The missed payment is simply added to the end of your loan term, for example, making a 60-month loan a 61-month loan.

Each skip requires a $20 processing fee, which can be deducted from any of your credit union accounts. Skip-a-Payment is available only on select loans for members whose accounts are in good standing.

For more information, please log in to Online Banking and click the "Self-Service" tab or click here for the FAQ's on Skip-a-Payment.